Senator Jane English represents Senate District 13, which includes parts of North Little Rock and northern Pulaski County. She was sworn into the state Senate in January of 2013.
Senator English is chair of the Senate Education Committee, co-chair of the Occupational Licensing Review Subcommittee and vice co-chair the Lottery Oversight Subcommittee. She serves on the Senate Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee, the Joint Energy Committee, the Senate Interim Committee on Children and Youth, the Joint Budget Committee, the Arkansas Legislative Council, the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, the Administrative Rules Subcommittee, the Higher Education Subcommittee and the Medical Marijuana Oversight Subcommittee.
Senator English served two terms in the House of Representatives, from 2009 through the end of 2012.
In addition to her work to improve education, Senator English is known for sponsoring legislation benefit military veterans and to promote economic development. She was responsible for a major restructuring of the state’s job training and adult education system, to give local business leaders more of a voice in the types of classes offered to students.
Senator English was in the group of legislators who pushed for a new nursing home for veterans in North Little Rock, after the previous facility in Little Rock was closed.
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Senator English graduated from Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics/Finance. From 1984 to 1997 she was a Senior Project Manager with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, working to recruit new manufacturing companies and helping existing companies expand.
From 1997 to 1998 she was the executive director of the Fort Chaffee Public Trust. She was the executive director of the Arkansas Manufacturers Association from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004 she was the executive director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board, a Cabinet position under Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2005, she was an economics/workforce advisor to Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.
She has been married for more than 63 years to retired Army Colonel Don English and they have one son and one daughter.
